The Preliminary Round of the Post-Apocalypse Book Battle Royale Has Begun

We now have a total of forty-seven post-apocalypse writers ready to battle it out with their best-selling titles. There are only thirty-two slots available in the tournament, so we're looking for the top writers. You can vote for your favorite post-apocalypse writers here. 

THE NEXT POST-APOC BOOK BATTLE ROYALE WILL BEGIN SOON

We’re currently setting up a Book Battle Royale. Indie authors (including myself) are submitting their novels. In a few days, there will be a nomination poll for the brawl. Readers will review poll options and vote for as many as you like. If you see a book that you liked/loved/legally married, or if it’s still on your TBR pile, give it a vote!

When those votes stop trickling in, we’ll have our thirty-two authors, thirty-two bestselling titles that will offer a lot of undiscovered stories for everyone to enjoy. Then we'll be ready for the POST-APOC BOOK BATTLE ROYALE!!

And don’t worry if you haven’t read ALL the books yet - we’ll have a long break between the vote results and the start of the tournament.

April's BookFunnel Post-Apocalypse Theme: The End of Civilization

This month's post-apocalyptic BookFunnel theme is The End of Civilization.

Society crumbles. Criminals thrive. Everything changes. And you would do anything to survive.

From zombies to natural disasters, these bestselling authors have teamed up to take you on an adrenaline-pumping journey through an all-thriller/no-filler selection of books packed with apocalyptic mayhem, intense character conflicts, life-or-death survival situations, and the ever-present threat of destruction for everything our heroes hold dear.

So start collecting your summer reading list and be prepared to watch the world fall apart around you. You can check them out here.

REMINDER: The Post-Apoc Reading A-Z Challenge for 2026 Is Underway

Steve Heuzinkveld has curated a list of post-apocalyptic books, with titles from A to Z. Fifty authors are featured in this event, with almost 90 books listed. This will be a year-long challenge, with monthly posts encouraging everyone to share their progress, thoughts, and newfound favorites. 

To make things easier, Steve has compiled a book list with Amazon links to the titles. You can find the link here. 
 
You can use the BookSlayer app on your phone for Apple or Android to design your own challenge grid and keep track of your progress (you'll also find each book's Amazon link here). 
  
Here's your chance to beef up that TBR pile and spend the year reading about the end of the world.

The Book Funnel Post-Apocalypse Strong Female Leads Event Has Begun

Looking for a new story featuring strong female leads?

These best-selling writers have teamed up to show badass female heroes who rely on their own strength and willpower to overcome life-or-death survival situations, who are ready to sacrifice themselves for everything they hold dear, and who rise up as the powerful women they were destined to be. Feared or loved, they are respected by all.

So plug in your e-reader, grab your favorite snacks, and add some books to your TBR pile because you're in for a real treat!

You can find them here. 

The Post-Apoc Reading A-Z Challenge for 2026

Steve Heuzinkveld has curated a list of post-apocalyptic books with titles from A to Z. Fifty different authors are involved in this event with almost 90 books listed. This will be a year-long challenge, with monthly posts encouraging everyone to share their progress, thoughts, and newfound favorites.

To make things easier, Steve has compiled a book list with Amazon links to the titles. You can find the link here. 
 
You can use the BookSlayer app on your phone for Apple or Android to design your own challenge grid and keep track of your progress (you'll also find each book's Amazon link in here, too). 
  
Here's your chance to beef up that TBR pile and spend the year reading about the end of the world.

The 2025 Post-Apocalyptic Book Scavenger Hunt Is Underway

Twenty indie authors are currently involved in a Post Apocalyptic Book Scavenger Hunt for 2025. This is a fun way for us to give back to all of our amazing readers. There are a bunch of great prizes to give away!  And all you have to do is answer a few questions about your favorite stories while discovering new ones.

Here's how it works: each author will post a question about their book that only somebody who has read it can answer. The first ten readers to answer all twenty questions correctly will each win a prize. The prizes include signed books, five $50 Amazon gift vouchers, and a brand-new Kindle Paperwhite for the grand prize winner!

Click on this link to access the PDF file that provides the book titles and writers included in the scavenger hunt, the links to purchase the books, and the questions that must be answered. The answers will be accepted starting in April.

The Kindle Version of A World Gone Dark Is Available for Pre-order

Great news!!! The pre-order for the Kindle version of A World Gone Dark, the first book in the Ravaged Skies saga, is available for pre-order. The book is scheduled for release on 2 January 2025. The pre-order price is $2.99. Following publication, the Kindle price will increase to $4.99. The pre-order for the print version should be available soon. You can order the Kindle version here. 

 

What would you do to survive the apocalypse?

What begins as a beautiful summer day ends in disaster when a massive solar flare strikes the Earth, burning out all electronic devices around the planet and plunging the world into darkness.

Kirstie and her high school friends are stranded at an amusement park in southern New Hampshire with no way to return to their homes outside of Concord. Her mother, Danielle, is trapped in Boston when the disaster strikes; rather than seeking shelter in the city, she begins the long and dangerous journey home to find her daughter. Kirstie’s uncle, Shawn, the shift supervisor at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, must find a way to prevent the reactor from melting down before millions die of radiation poisoning.

As society collapses, each family member must find a way to stay alive, even if it means doing things they never imagined themselves capable of.

Can they survive the first five days of the apocalypse? Will they ever see each other again?


"In typical Baker fashion, the action hits hard and fast in this very plausible apocalyptic disaster scenario. Following the actions of three people as they watch society collapse all around them, the pace never lets up. A teenager has to grow up fast. A mother in the city has to find a way out. And the supervisor at a nuclear power plant must find a way to prevent an even bigger disaster. Time is short. When there is no police or military to step in and help keep order, society breaks down quickly." -- David Simpson, author of The Solar Tsunami and Zombie Road series

 

Cover Reveal for A World Gone Dark

As promised, here is the cover reveal for A World Gone Dark, the first book in my new series which is part of the Ravaged Skies saga. Ravaged Skies is an adventurous undertaking by fifteen authors who are writing about the same apocalyptic event -- a massive solar flare that destroys all electronics around the globe.

A World Gone Dark, the premiere book in the series, is scheduled for release on 2 January 2025. I'll be providing a link to the pre-order and a sample chapter within the next two weeks.

Until then, please check out our official webpage where you can learn more about the project and the writers involved here

Preview of My New Young Adult Post-Apocalypse Novel Shattered World

Within the next month I'll be releasing my young adult post-apocalypse novel Shattered World. It'll be the first of five books in the series, with the sequels being released every four to six weeks after. [NOTE: For those who used to follow my young adult persona Josh Matthews, this is the Hell Gate saga published under my real name.] The final touches are being made to the manuscript and cover, but in the meantime I wanted to entice you with the first chapter.

 

      The stillness belied the danger that lurked in the shadows of every alley and doorway of St. Mere Eglise. Jason McCreary found it unsettling. Most of the towns along the Normandy coast had been abandoned long ago. Animals now flourished amongst the desolation, with livestock and wildlife replacing humans. That wasn’t the case today. Even the birds had fled, plunging the town into an eerie silence that forewarned of an approaching evil.

       Experience had taught Jason that when the animals fled it was to escape from Demon Spawn. He made his way along the center of Rue Eisenhower, clutching his crossbow, ready to shoot if necessary. Despite walking lightly, his footsteps echoed through town, sounding like a dinner bell for the dead. His eyes scanned the buildings. Nothing moved except overgrown grass and weeds that swayed in the wind. The same wind tousled several blond strands across his face. Jason used his free hand to push them back behind his ears.

       Jason took a deep breath to calm his nerves, holding it for several seconds before exhaling. It did little good. His heart still raced and his hands trembled, knowing that at any moment something demonic could lunge out of the shadows at him. He glanced down to the werehounds that stayed close by his side. Lilith brought up Jason’s right flank. She looked like a large wolf with shiny black fur. Her head darted from side to side, seeking out anything that could be a threat. Occasionally, she glanced behind them to make certain nothing approached from their rear. Lucifer walked along on his left. He resembled a Boxer. His ears stood straight up, listening for any noise that signified danger. When Lucifer saw his master staring at him, his stubby tail wagged. After the brief display of affection, he went back to prowling for Demon Spawn.

       Jason sniffed the air to see if he could smell the demons. A tickle formed in the back of his throat, causing him to hack against the rear of his hand. Ever since the opening of the interdimensional portals, the air had taken on an unpleasant odor. Father Chirac referred to it as the brimstone stench of Hell. Jason had no idea what the priest meant. To him, the air smelled like the living room of his old house after his mother would build a fire in the fireplace, only mixed with the stench of rot and shit.

       As he glanced from building to building, Jason chastised himself. He didn’t like being separated from the group, yet he only had himself to blame for being the point man into a potential battle royale. Yesterday, a scouting party on horseback had reported Demon Spawn moving across the countryside toward St. Mere Eglise; they had been unable to conduct a proper reconnaissance because of the approaching dusk. A search and destroy team had been sent out that morning to assess the threat and deal with it. Jason was part of that team. A mile outside of town, the team had dismounted and left their horses with a rear-guard unit so they could proceed on foot. Andre had ordered Jason to go ahead and scout the area. When Sasha had protested sending him in alone, Jason had interrupted and said he wanted to take point. He didn’t know if he had been trying to impress Andre or had been embarrassed by having Sasha fight his battles for him, not that it mattered. His stupid sixteen-year-old vanity had gotten the better of him. Now he was heading into a town probably overrun by Demon Spawn.

       “And I wonder why they keep calling me Bait.”

       Lucifer looked up with his soulful brown eyes and whined, sensing his discomfort. “I’m fine, boy. I need a bit more common sense than pride.” He reached down and scratched Lucifer behind the ears. His stubby tail wagged.

       Jason closed his eyes and concentrated. He could sense the others following half a mile to the rear. Most of the team registered as one signature, giving off an aura of concern over not knowing what to expect. Three auras stood out. Andre and Slava, both of whom who were excited about the possibility of combat, and Sasha who was afraid. Not for herself, though. She feared for Jason’s safety. He grinned at the distant display of affection.

At the corner, the street opened. To the right sat a parking lot empty except for a few dust-covered vehicles. In the far corner of the lot sat St. Mere Eglise church, the one made famous when an American paratrooper got stuck on the belfry during the D-Day landings. He remembered seeing that in an old black-and-white war movie he watched with his dad. Red Skelton, or Buttons, or someone with a weird name like that had played the paratrooper. To the left was the Airborne Museum that commemorated the Normandy invasion. Jason veered off the street and into the outer edge of the parking lot. The werehounds stayed close.

       He had approached to within twenty feet of the intersection of Rue Eisenhower and Rue de Gaulle when a single figure shambled out into the middle of the street. A flesh eater that fed off humans. These demons were slow and uncoordinated, so dealing with one or two was easy. However, a horde of flesh eaters could strip a man to the bones in minutes. Jason had seen hundreds like it during the past few months. Naked, emaciated, and with grey leathery skin dried out from the fires of the other dimension. It stumbled along, its gaze fixed on the road. The demon hadn’t noticed him yet. Jason raised the crossbow and aimed at the skull above the right ear. Lucifer growled. The noise caught the flesh eater’s attention. Its head shot up and its lifeless, cloudy eyes fixed on Jason. When its mouth dropped open, a mournful wail emanated from cracked, desiccated lips. Jason readjusted his aim and pulled the trigger. The arrow sliced through its left eye. It dropped to the ground, a final moan escaping from its lungs as its lifeforce drained from its body, creating a small eddy of blue light that twisted in the air for a moment before dissipating.

       Jason reached around to pull another arrow from its quiver when the stench of decayed flesh filtered into his nose, a smell so overpowering his stomach heaved. As he swallowed back his vomit, a chorus of wails shattered the calm. A swarm of flesh eaters flowed out of Rue de Gaulle and filled the square. A fat female noticed Jason and screeched. The others turned and, spotting food, shambled towards him. At least a hundred flesh eaters emerged from the side street, all of them bearing down on Jason. Even worse, he saw four dark grey shapes darting amongst the horde. Though he couldn’t get a good view because of the other demons, he recognized the bat-like bodies and bulbous, eyeless heads with gaping mouths.

       Shit! Soul vampires!

       “Come on, guys!” Jason said to Lilith and Lucifer. He ran for the church. Lilith stayed close to protect her master. Lucifer defiantly barked at the approaching horde before spinning around and sprinting away.

       Reaching the door to St. Mere Eglise church, Jason tried the knob. It was locked. He rammed his shoulder against the door several times. It wouldn’t budge. Placing his back against the wall, Jason scanned the area and weighed his options. Flesh eaters stretched out across the parking lot. They were still over fifty feet away and he could easily outrun them. Three of the soul vampires spread out behind the first line of flesh eaters, preparing to attack, and they would cut him down if he moved out in the open. If he stayed with his back against the church so he couldn’t be surrounded, he might have a chance. With luck, the rest of the team would reach him before the flesh eaters did.

       One of the soul vampires broke through the horde in front of Jason and charged. The other two emerged thirty feet to either side. Lucifer growled at the one approaching from the left. Facing the demon, he began his metamorphosis. The fur on his back and legs receded, allowing the skin to harden into scales. Three-inch spikes tore through the muscles around his shoulders, and horns extended from behind his ears, giving his head the appearance of a bull. Lucifer’s paws lengthened several inches and his nails became talons. To Jason’s right, Lilith howled as she morphed into her demonic form. The shiny black fur stiffened like the spikes of a porcupine. The tail elongated into a five-foot appendage with a stinger on the end, much like a scorpion.

       Jason heard the snapping of bone as her jaw distended and her fangs lengthened. She crouched, ready to attack.

       Lucifer pounced on the soul vampire moving in on the left flank, lowering his head and ramming the demon in its abdomen. His horns tore through its leathery skin and gouged open its stomach. It screamed and fell to the ground, its skeleton-thin hands clasping the wound to hold its intestines in place. Scrambling to its feet, the soul vampire tried to get away, moving slowly because of its wound. Lucifer jumped onto its back, pinning it to the ground with his hind legs. The werehound’s front paws slashed away at its neck and head, tearing away chunks of skin and fracturing the skull. The soul vampire howled and flailed its arm to drive away the werehound, yet Lucifer kept up the assault. With one final blow, his paw crushed the skull. A pathetic mewl escaped the demon’s lips as its body went limp.

       Lilith timed her attack precisely before lunging. She landed on the soul vampire’s chest and toppled it over backwards. As the two hit the ground, her jaws locked around its neck, biting through skin and muscle. The soul vampire attempted to cry out, emitting a pitiful groan through its crushed larynx. It clawed at Lilith, shredding its hands on the porcupine-like spikes. Lilith’s tail wrapped around her back and shoulder, and she plunged the stinger into the demon’s forehead, injecting it with paralyzing venom. Within seconds, every muscle in its body went numb. With a violent twist of her jaws, Lilith severed the soul vampire’s head and flung it aside. The head skipped across the parking lot.

       Jason focused on the danger charging straight toward him. He aimed the crossbow at the center of its bulbous forehead and fired. Without eyes, the soul vampire’s auditory senses were highly attuned. Hearing the projectile sailing through the air, it shifted to the right. The arrow missed and landed amongst the approaching flesh eater. Jason removed another from his quiver and reloaded. The soul vampire was ten feet away. Jason didn’t have time to line up his shot. He raised the crossbow and quick fired. The arrow entered the demon’s throat and punched its way out the back of its neck, lodging in its windpipe. It stopped and gasped for air. It reached up and tried to pull out the bolt; however, the protruding tip lodged it in place. Jason loaded another arrow into the crossbow and fired point blank. The arrow sliced into the center of its eyeless skull, scrambling its brain. The soul vampire collapsed to the ground.

       Jason realized how precarious his position had become. The horde of flesh eaters was closing in, with the nearest one only twenty feet away. Lucifer and Lilith fell back so as not to be eaten, the latter whining to her master to warn him about their impending doom. And where the hell is the last soul—

Jason sensed its presence closing in on his right along the front of the church. It must have circled around the parking lot while the other three distracted him. He ducked as the soul vampire lunged. It missed him. However, its hand clawed across Jason’s shoulder, causing him to drop the crossbow. The soul vampire landed five feet from Jason and spun around, reacquiring its target. Jason had only a moment to react. Reaching down, he removed the machete from the sheath strapped to his leg. The movement caught the soul vampire’s attention and it leapt. Jason rushed forward and plunged the machete into the demon’s shoulder, pushing with all his might and impaling it on the church door. He pushed the weapon deeper, lodging the blade in the wood. The soul vampire’s mouth opened, and Jason got a whiff of the acid vomit rising in its throat. He ducked a moment before it spewed the corrosive liquid. The bile splattered across the church steps, sizzling against the stone.

       Jason’s crossbow sat on the ground out of reach, with the closest flesh eater ten feet beyond it. He had to take the chance. He shoved the machete into the soul vampire’s shoulder until it wouldn’t go any farther, then rushed out into the parking lot. Snatching up the crossbow, he spun around and reached for an arrow. Shit, the quiver was empty. Several arrows lay scattered around his feet. He bent over to pick one up, stood, and reloaded.

       A soul curdling cry sent a chill down Jason’s spine. With an incredible effort, the soul vampire yanked itself off the door. The machete remained imbedded in the wood, carving out chunks of flesh and muscle as the demon pulled itself along the blade. Once free from the weapon, it acquired Jason’s presence and snarled. Jason fired. The arrow struck the soul vampire in its open mouth, propelling it backward until the arrowhead lodged in the door. With a final spasm, the soul vampire died, its carcass hanging limply off the bolt.

       A pair of dead hands grabbed Jason from behind. Before he could react, a flesh eater bit into his shoulder. He felt its teeth grind against the bone. Jason dropped the crossbow and grabbed its head with his right hand, holding it in place to prevent the flesh eater from tearing off a piece of his shoulder.

       Another pair of hands grabbed Jason. He curled his left hand into a fist and started to take a swing, pausing when he stared into Andre’s face. The Russian moved up behind them and pushed them away from the horde. When they reached the wall of the church, Andre removed a Glock 23 from his holster, placed the barrel against the flesh eater’s temple, and fired. The demon’s skull exploded. Jason felt the death grip on his shoulder loosen, and a second later the flesh eater dropped to the pavement, its lifeforce swirling into the air.

       Andre shoved the teenager to the ground as gunfire erupted around him. Jason glanced up to see Gun Team 2 at the corner of the church firing their automatic weapons into the horde.

       Sasha stood in front, her red hair blowing across her face. She aimed her hand-held six-barreled GAU-17A minigun at the horde of flesh eaters and squeezed the trigger. A momentary whir cut through the moaning, followed a second later by the roar of the weapon as it engaged. Sasha swept the barrel back and forth. Fifty rounds a second tore into the front line of flesh eaters, ripping them apart. Her team advanced, stepping over body parts as they waded into the swarm.

       More gunfire erupted to Jason’s right. At the other corner of the church, Gun Team 3 fired into the horde, supporting Haneef as he used his own GAU-17A to decimate the flesh eater ranks. The two teams moved with precision, picking off the flanks and herding the remainder into a smaller grouping that could not withstand the massed firepower. It took only a minute for them to eliminate the horde, leaving shattered corpses and a mesmerizing blue eddy of lifeforces that shimmied over the parking lot. Silence descended across the area. Haneef stepped away from the carnage. Facing Mecca, he fell to his knees and bowed his forehead against the ground, repeating the prayer several times.

       Andre grabbed Jason by the collar and yanked the teenager onto his feet. “Smart move, Bait. You put all of us in danger.”

       “I had no choice,” Jason protested as he shrugged off Andre’s grip. “You couldn’t outrun them?”

Jason pointed to the carcass impaled to the church door. “There were four soul vampires amongst the flesh eaters. I wouldn’t have made it far if I had tried to run.”

       Andre studied the soul vampire hanging from the arrow and moved away without responding. “Okay, people. Stay alert in case there are any more of these things in the area.”

       Everyone followed the order. Andre noticed Haneef praying. “Haneef, what the hell are you doing?”

       “Thanking Allah for our victory.” Haneef lifted himself off the pavement and brushed the dirt from his knees.

       Andre shook his head in disgust. “We move out in three minutes.”

       Sasha came over to Jason. “Don’t listen to him,” she whispered. “You did great.”

       His heart skipped a beat. He wanted to say something cool, something that would impress her. He could only come up with, “Thanks.”

       Lucifer and Lilith plodded up to Jason. Both animals had changed back into their animal forms. Jason crouched down to pet them. Lucifer licked his face, happy that his master was safe. Lilith sniffed Jason’s wound and whimpered.

       Sasha noticed the blood on Jason’s shoulder. “Oh my God! You’re hurt!”

       Jason twisted his head and saw the bite for the first time. The teeth marks were deep, and he could see bone through the gash. Thankfully, it was a clean wound, and the bleeding had slowed. Now he noticed the pain.

       “It’s not that bad,” he lied. “I’ll have Doc fix me up when we get back.” Sasha spun around toward Andre. “Did you know Jason was hurt?” “Yeah. So?”

       “We need to get him medical care.”

       “He’ll be fine. Maybe next time the idiot will be more careful.”

       Sasha started to respond. Jason placed a hand on her arm and stopped her. “It’s okay. I’ll be all right.”

       “Well, you won’t be if you keep letting Andre push you around.” Sasha stormed off. For a moment, the blow to Jason’s pride hurt worse than the pain in his shoulder.

       Andre shook his head, a sour expression on his face. “Let’s move out, people. I want to be well clear of this area before nightfall.”

When Reality and Fiction Collide

I stumbled across a posting from Your News Wire today and was intrigued. Though it tends toward the conspiratorial, CERN To Attempt 'Big Bang' in March, Stephen Hawking Issues Warning discusses the upcoming experiment this year in which CERN will attempt to recreate the Big Bang using the God particle and the warning by scientists such as Hawking and Neil de Grasse Tyson that the results could be dangerous.

The ironic thing is that, although the experiment is different, such a failure is the basis for my upcoming young adult post-apocalyptic series Hell Gates, which I hope to release later this year. In the series, a simultaneous anti-matter experiment at CERN and other large hydron collider facilities (some fictitious) punch inter-dimensional portals between earth and Hell, allowing underworld demons to invade this realm. I posted the CERN chapter from Hell Gate below.

This is one of those incidents I'm torn on. If something bad happens, and I predicted it, then my street cred soars. On the other hand, it's kind of hard to sell books during an apocalyptic demon invasion.

 Jason blinked against the flashing of cameras and the glare of klieg lights. He lowered his head and stared at the floor of the make-shift stage set up in the conference room. The metal chair was uncomfortable, but he tolerated it, knowing his mother would be upset if he fidgeted and ruined her big day. She stood before him at the podium, wearing a black skirt and cream-colored, with a white lab coat covering her outfit. Long red hair cascaded down her back and draped over her shoulders. Doc sat in the folding chair beside him. Several other scientists occupied the remaining seats, although he had never bothered to learn their names. In front of the stage, more than thirty reporters and cameramen crowded around, hanging on his mother’s every word, anxious to talk with Dr. Lisa McCreary, the lead physicist for Project Discovery.

            His mother smiled for the cameras. “Project Discovery is the most ambitious undertaking yet in the field of anti-matter research. The intention is to generate more anti-matter at one time than has been attempted previously. At the same time as we here at CERN will be generating our own continuous stream of anti-matter, our sister facilities in Russia, Japan, and the United States will do the same. We hope to exponentially increase our knowledge of anti-matter and, once the separate facilities combine our research, develop a better understanding of the physics involved in the creation of our universe. There are so many vistas of particle physics as of yet unexplored that we—”

            Jason tuned out his mother and let his mind wander to things he would rather be doing at the moment, which included almost anything. He had no idea what she was talking about because she always used scientific terms that were way over his head. Even at home, during what little quality time they spent together, she discussed her work. Rarely did she ever ask about him, and then mostly to check on his grades or how he was doing in school. She never asked him about his friends or his social life, neither of which he had. This was the first thing the two of them had done as mother and son in years, and even now he served only as window dressing for his mother’s moment in the spotlight.

            Doc leaned over and nudged Jason with his left elbow. “How are you doing?”

            “Okay, I guess.”

            “I know this is boring. It’s even boring for me. Try not to yawn or you’ll get me going.” Doc gave him a conspiratorial wink.

            Jason liked Doc. He paid attention to him at his level. Doc would often drop by the house on nights his mother worked late, which was usually every night, to chat with him about stuff like girls and movies. Once he even played World of Warcraft with him. Doc was really good at solving the puzzles in the game, but sucked at boss fights.

            Lisa stepped away from the podium and motioned to Doc. “Let me give the floor up to Dr. Eric Fisher. He’s the true mastermind behind the technical aspects of this project, and can do a better job of answering your questions than I can.”

            Doc stood up and patted Jason on his shoulder. “I’m on.”

            Jason considered Doc the closest person he had to a father since his parents divorced when he was ten. Although neither his mother nor his father discussed the details with him, from the pieces of arguments he overheard from his bedroom he thought they split up because his mother had spent as little time with his dad as she did with him. Even after the separation, Jason and his dad had been close and did things every other weekend until two years ago when his father moved to Tokyo to head up the Japanese portion of Project Discovery. Since then, they only talked via text messages and the occasional Skype call. Although Jason never admitted it to anyone, that hurt him as much as his parents’ divorce. He could never shake the feeling that everyone who mattered in his life found their jobs more important than being with him.

            A bustle of activity around the stage snapped Jason back to the present. The news conference had ended, and the reporters headed off to the viewing area to watch the experiment via closed circuit camera. Jason’s mother turned to those behind her on the stage, her face beaming with pride.

            “All right, everyone. Are we ready?”

            The scientists followed Lisa to the control room that attached to CERN’s Antiproton Decelerator Facility, an off-shoot of the primary accelerator loop where the anti-protons would be created. The decelerator would slow down the particles enough so they could be captured and stored in an electro-magnetic containment chamber situated in the adjacent room. A thick glass partition built into a heavy steel wall separated the two areas. Jason maneuvered around the horde of scientists and officials to catch a glimpse of the chamber. It sat on a platform in the center of the room. The glass-enclosed chamber measured three feet in circumference, with a series of giant electro-magnets encircling it. This is where the anti-matter would be captured. Jason shrugged. It seemed like an awful lot of time and effort to produce something so small.

            As she always did, Jason’s mother took charge and began ordering everyone to their tasks. When the others were in place, she switched on the intercom that connected the control room with the other facilities.

            “United States, are you ready?” asked Lisa.

            “Ready when you are.” The voice spoke with a New England accent, the “are” sounding like “ah.”

            “Moscow?”

            A thick Russian accent came over the speaker. “We’re ready.”

            “And Tokyo.”

            “All set to go, Lisa,” answered his father.

            “Then let’s make history.”

            Jason pushed closer to the corner of the glass, ignoring the commotion around him and focusing instead on the chamber. A white mist like cigarette smoke swirled into the chamber and then vanished as the massive vacuum pump beneath sucked out all gases, leaving the interior void. A few seconds later, a spark lit up the interior as the first particles of anti-matter collided with some of the remaining particles of matter. Jason blinked. When he opened his eyes, a series of sparks flashed throughout the chamber as the anti-matter destroyed the last of the regular matter inside. Then the interior went black, a darkness so intense it reminded Jason of the photos he had seen of deep space. Whoops and applause filled the control room.

            Doc yelled out. “We achieved anti-matter containment!”

            His mother asked the other facilities, and the same chorus of voices applied in the affirmative. Several of the officials rushed over to shake his mother’s hand. For the next several minutes, the celebratory atmosphere continued as an increasing amount of anti-matter filled the containment chamber. Jason was pleased. He could not remember the last time he had seen his mother this happy.

            “Merde.”

            Jason switched his attention to the young man seated in front of a computer screen. His eyes were wide with fear and were looking at his mother for guidance. Jason knew something had gone terribly wrong.

            The young man never took his eyes off the computer screen. “Dr. McCreary, we have a problem.”

            The congratulatory spirit evaporated. Jason’s mother joined the young man. “What’s wrong?”

            “The magnetic containment field is destabilizing. There’s too much anti-matter inside the chamber.”

            “Are we about to lose it?” His mother leaned forward and began punching code into the keyboard.

            “No. I think the field will hold if I can increase the cooling to the primary mag—”

            Before anyone could react, the containment chamber erupted. The blast slammed into the glass partition and knocked Jason off his feet. He landed on his back and slid several inches across the floor. Though winded, he didn’t feel like he had been hurt, which surprised considering the pane had fractured into a spider web of cracks that scoured its surface. Jason rolled onto his knees, his ears still ringing from the concussion. Most of the others had also been knocked down. His mother and the other scientists climbed back to their stations and worked at the control panels, each occasionally casting a frantic glance toward the decelerator. The officials get to their feet more slowly. Some moved to the rear wall of the control room while others ran for the exit. Jason crawled over to the control console and, using the edge for support, pulled himself to his feet. Finding a place where the partition had not been fractured, he peered through the glass.

            The room was a shambles. The breach had completely destroyed the containment chamber and blasted the monitoring equipment into the far corners, leaving it in smoldering piles of twisted metal. Fortunately for everyone in the control room, the heavy partition wall had deflected the explosion and vented against the weaker structures inside the room. The left wall had been breached, a huge gash nearly thirty feet long having been gouged out of the metal surface. A large hole twenty feet across had been cratered in the cement floor underneath the chamber, and above it the ceiling had been blown away.

            Jason barely noticed the damage, though. His attention focused on the cause of the destruction. A swirling vortex with a two-foot wide hole in the center filled the space where the magnetic containment chamber had once stood. Black smoke poured from the opening and formed an ominous cloud around the circumference. The hole glimmered like a mirage. Jason gazed through it, expecting to see the opposite side of the decelerator room. Instead he stared at a dark, barren landscape. The only light came from rivers of lava that cast an eerie glow onto a blood-red sky. In the background, strange figures lumbered through the shadows, approaching the opening.

            The vortex pulsed every few seconds, and with each pulse it increased a few inches in diameter.

            “Mom, you might want to see this.”

            “Not now, Jason.”

            “But the hole is getting larger.”

            “I’m busy at the—” His mother stopped in mid-sentence, her attention focused on the vortex. “What are the radiation levels in there?”

            “There’s no way of knowing, Dr. McCreary. All the instruments were destroyed in the blast.”

            “I’m going in to check it out. Nancy, Andre. You’re with me.”

            “You can’t risk it,” said Doc.

            “I’ll be fine. I have to get a closer look.”

            The partition door had been warped by the blast, and it took the three scientists several attempts to open it. When they did, their lab coats and hair blew in the wind as a steady undercurrent of air flowed toward the vortex. A low rumble echoed from the room, sounding to Jason like an approaching thunderstorm. The scientists stepped inside and cautiously approached the hole.

            “What do you see?” Doc asked from the doorway.

            His mother’s voice trembled. Her eyes darted around the room, wide with fear and uncertainty. Jason had never seen his mother like this before. “It’s a portal of some type.”

            “A portal? To where?”

            “I don’t know. I’ve never seen any place like this bef—” His mother’s hand covered her mouth.

            Doc centered himself in the doorway. “Lisa, what is it?”

            “I th-think we opened a gateway to Hell.”

            The vortex emitted a heavy pulse and expanded, doubling to almost six feet in diameter, accompanied by an increase in the tempo of the rumbling. The wind grew in intensity, sucking the three scientists toward the opening. Nancy and Andre were yanked off their feet and flung through the portal, their screams being cut off as they disappeared into the other side. The two scientists were tossed nearly fifty feet into the other world. Neither one got back up. The wind dragged his mother toward the same fate. She reached out at the last second and grabbed hold of a twisted piece of the console still welded to the floor.

            With the air removed from the containment room, the vacuum began sucking air out of the control room, generating a whirlwind of papers that flowed into the containment room and through the portal. Doc threw himself against the wall inside the control room. He spotted a fire hose anchored on the opposite wall. Pulling himself toward it against the force of the wind, he unwound the hose and wrapped one end several times around his right arm. “I’m going to save Lisa. Drs. Kim and Bernard, stay here and pull me back. The rest of you, get out of here now.”

            Jason stayed put as the others scrambled for the exit, watching the rescue attempt through the fractured glass.

            Doc stepped into the doorway and was immediately dragged across the room by the roaring wind. Jason thought he would be sucked into the portal. At the last minute the hose grew taut, jerking Doc to a stop a few feet from the opening. As Kim and Bernard reeled him back in, Doc maneuvered over to Jason’s mother, held out his left hand, and clasped it around his mother’s wrist. She hesitated, too scared to react, then released her grip on the console and wrapped her hands around Doc’s arm.

            Another massive surge, and the vortex’s size increased again, along with a similar increase in the flow of the wind, which yanked the hose out of Kim’s and Bernard’s hands. Jason felt his heart sink as he watched the airflow suck his mother toward the portal. Doc still held on, being pulled along behind her. Jason heard him scream “No!” even over the roar. A second later, the hose grew taut again as it reached its full length. His mother was on the opposite side of the vortex, her legs dangling in the air as the wind tried to yank her away. She still held onto Doc’s arm, which extended through the vortex up to his upper arm, with the rest of him still on their side.

            Doc yelled, “Pull me back!”

            Bracing his feet against the wall, Kim pulled on the hose. It wouldn’t move. Bernard joined him. They two pulled with all their might. Finally, the hose moved back a foot.

            In the containment room, Doc screamed. As his arm emerged from the portal, the exposed skin blackened and exploded into a cloud of ash, severing his arm just above the elbow. With nothing left to anchor Jason’s mother in this world, she was sucked into the other realm, still clutching the other end of Doc’s severed arm. She landed alongside Nancy and Andre.

            Jason rushed over to the door. Kim noticed him at the last second. Dropping his end of the hose, Kim wrapped his arms around Jason and threw him against the wall.

            “You can’t go in there. You’ll be sucked in, too.”

            “Let me go. I have to save my mother.”

            “It’s too late for that.”

            As Jason struggled to break free, the wind died out. The swirling papers floated to the ground, and the hose went slack. Doc dropped to the floor, crying out and writhing around in pain. An eerie calm settled over the facility. Bernard took advantage of the lull to race into the containment room and help Doc to his feet. Despite Doc’s arm being severed above the elbow, it didn’t bleed. In fact, the end appeared cauterized.

            “Jason!” The voice belonged to his mother, although it sounded muffled and far away. He turned to the portal. He could see her on the other side. She had just helped Nancy to her feet and, as the young woman stumbled toward the portal, bent over to assist Andre. After a second, his mother lowered her head, patted Andre on the shoulder, and set off after her colleague.

            Jason moved toward the portal. “Hurry up!”

            “Send them back,” huffed Doc as he leaned against the doorway.

            “What are you talking about?”

            “They’ll never make it through.”

            “Of course they will. The wind has died down.”

            “No.” Doc held up the remains of his left arm. “They won’t.”

            Realizing the danger his mother and the other scientists faced, Jason stood in front of the portal, waving his hands and yelling for them to stay back. Neither woman listened. Nancy reached the portal first and jumped through. She never made it. Her body crumbled as it passed through into their side, becoming an ashen silhouette that fell to the cement and erupted into a cloud of dust, showering Jason in ash.

            On the other side, Jason’s mother slowed, stopping just short of the vortex. Her gaze followed the circumference as if trying to find a way to cross back. Jason knew there was no way for her to do so and survive. An inhuman moan sounded from behind her. Their eyes both focused on the silhouettes that had been in the background, only now much closer and more threatening. When his mother turned back to him, a single tear streamed down her cheek.

            “Jason, get out of here while you can.”

            “I’m not leaving you.”

            Her voice became calm and soothing. “There’s nothing you can do for me now. I’ll be fine. And I promise to find a way out of here. But I need to make sure you get to safety. I love you.”

            Without waiting for his response, she ran out of his line of sight, away from the approaching figures. Jason started to go after her when a hand clutched his arm. He spun around to see Kim holding him. “Leave me alone. I’m going after her.”

            “Don’t be an ass. You’ll only get yourse—”

            The wind picked up again, only this time it blew from the portal into the facility. It slowly increased in intensity, pushing the loose papers across the floor of the containment room. Jason couldn’t hear the gusts, however, because the sound was drowned out by the moaning that came from the dozens of silhouettes on the other side. Jason could finally make them out. They reminded him of walking corpses, naked and emaciated, and with pale leathery skin. And they were within a few yards of the portal.

            Doc stepped over to Jason, standing between the teenager and the vortex. “We have to get going.”

            “Wh-what about…?”

            “You can’t help your mother if you’re dead.” Doc reached out his remaining hand and placed it on Jason’s shoulder. “We’ll figure a way to get her out, but we have to get out of here first.”

            The four of them darted into the control room. Just before Jason exited into the corridor, he stopped, hoping to catch a glimpse of his mother. The portal’s façade vibrated, causing a shimmering effect.

            “Hey, you should see this. Something weird is happening.”

            “Come on!” yelled Doc.

            Jason had started down the corridor when a massive pulse exploded from the portal. It shot through the building, knocking over everyone in its path. Jason sat up, dazed and unable to see a thing. He thought maybe he had gone blind in the blast until Bernard flicked on a lighter, allowing them to see. They would need it, because moaning emanated from the control room. Doc and the others got up and ran, with Jason right behind them.

            For the first time in his life, he thought he might not live through the next few minutes.

            It would not be the last time he felt that way.